Speaker 1: January Inauguration Day marked twenty years since I left the
Speaker 1: White House. I love being president, and I've often said
Speaker 1: that if it weren't for term limits, I would have
Speaker 1: stayed as long as the American people would have me.
Speaker 1: But I've always thought it was a waste of time
Speaker 1: to spend your days wishing you could do something you
Speaker 1: can't do anymore. You have to find new ways to
Speaker 1: put your passions and your talents to good youth. So
Speaker 1: when I was getting ready to leave office, I knew
Speaker 1: I had to look to the future and figure out
Speaker 1: what my next chapter was going to be. In two
Speaker 1: thousand one, I started the Clinton Foundation so that I
Speaker 1: could devote my time and energy the issues I cared about,
Speaker 1: where I thought I can make a difference, and where
Speaker 1: I could help a lot of people. Looking back over
Speaker 1: the last two decades now, these twenty years have been
Speaker 1: some of the most rewarding of my life. So why
Speaker 1: am I telling you this? Because no one should ever
Speaker 1: assume that their best, most important, most productive days are
Speaker 1: behind them. We all have the ability to keep growing
Speaker 1: and changing, learning and giving. And today I'm joined by
Speaker 1: someone who's extraordinary life has proved that as well as
Speaker 1: anyone I've ever known. I met Magic Johnson when I
Speaker 1: ran for president and shortly after he'd been diagnosed with
Speaker 1: HIV and retired from the NBA. Had followed his career
Speaker 1: from his time at Michigan State through his incredible run
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. But from the time I first met him,
Speaker 1: I've been more impressed by who he is as a
Speaker 1: person than anything you've done on the basketball court. He's
Speaker 1: built an amazing career in business and taking special pride
Speaker 1: in shattering the myth that businesses can't thrive and underserved
Speaker 1: urban communities, and he started the Magic Johnson Foundation, first
Speaker 1: to raise awareness of HIV AIDS, then with an expanded
Speaker 1: mission to combat other challenges, including poverty and health disparities.
Speaker 1: When we first met, he told me he wanted to
Speaker 1: do as well as both an entrepreneur and an activist
Speaker 1: as he had as an athlete. He studied it, he
Speaker 1: worked at it, just as he studied basketball games and
Speaker 1: practice for hours on end, and he had the discipline
Speaker 1: not to waste that emotional time and energy wishing he
Speaker 1: could do what he couldn't do anymore. So I'm honored
Speaker 1: to introduce and c double a champion or Wempid Gold Medal.
Speaker 1: Was five time NBA Champion, three time m v P,
Speaker 1: twelve time All Star, and founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation,
Speaker 1: Chairman and CEO of Maggie Johnson Enterprise. My now a
Speaker 1: longtime friend, Maggie Johnson. Thanks for being here, Magic Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for having me, sir. You know I love you,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, we've had such an incredible friendship
Speaker 1: since the first day we met. We went in Mexico together.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this. Carlos him had
Speaker 1: his foundation event. He was giving scholarships to I believed
Speaker 1: ten thousand kids. That day in the evening time, he
Speaker 1: had a dinner at his house for all these people
Speaker 1: who were giving them money for his foundation. And you
Speaker 1: came up and you were the speaker, and you gave
Speaker 1: one of the most incredible speeches. But also you were
Speaker 1: working the crowd at the same time. So I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna steal some of that. I'm gonna take some
Speaker 1: of that from President Clinton and how you always when
Speaker 1: you had the meeting line, when everybody came up to
Speaker 1: meet you as the president or just meet you at
Speaker 1: that gala, you looked every single person in the eye
Speaker 1: and said hello to them and made them feel like
Speaker 1: they were special. And I took that from you. Again.
Speaker 1: You don't know that this little black boy from Lansing, Michigan,
Speaker 1: who idolized you and who watch your every move and
Speaker 1: you made me better. Well, thank you. Let's do just
Speaker 1: a little bit of basketball and then talk about your
Speaker 1: life since then. To tell us a little bit about
Speaker 1: growing up, how you got into basketball, and how you
Speaker 1: decided you wanted to stay and play for Michigan State. Well,
Speaker 1: I grew up with six sisters and three brothers, so
Speaker 1: a big family. My father worked for General Motors for
Speaker 1: thirty years and one award for never being late and
Speaker 1: never missing a day in thirty years. Yeah, so you
Speaker 1: see where I got my work ethic from. And so
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm built just like my father. I'm a worker.
Speaker 1: And so my mother worked for the school district in
Speaker 1: the school cafeteria. The one ain't they stressed was education. Um,
Speaker 1: they let me know early on. Yes, we were happy
Speaker 1: that you play basketball, but if you don't get good grades,
Speaker 1: you won't be playing at all. So that kept me
Speaker 1: in the books. President Clinton, you'd be happy to know
Speaker 1: that all my sisters our teachers in the school system,
Speaker 1: and so they teach young people today in Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of all of them. And then I
Speaker 1: fell in love with the game watching basketball every Saturday,
Speaker 1: every Sunday with my father. He would sit on the floor,
Speaker 1: so I would say, sit right next to him, and
Speaker 1: I would watch college basketball on Saturday. And then on Sunday,
Speaker 1: they made sure that we went to church as a family.
Speaker 1: And then every Sunday, no matter what was going on,
Speaker 1: I don't care how many games I had, we had
Speaker 1: to have dinner on Sunday as a family. Everybody had
Speaker 1: to be there. There's no excuses. That's why I'm a
Speaker 1: family guy today, you know. But I fell in love
Speaker 1: with the game just watching him with my father. And
Speaker 1: then every time I would watch an NBA game, and
Speaker 1: at that time, Bob Couzy uh, Bill Russell of the Celtics,
Speaker 1: John Havitek of the Celtics, Oscar Robinson uh. Then of
Speaker 1: course when Kareem with lou All Sunder with the Milwaukee Bucks,
Speaker 1: I would go out and I would emulate what they
Speaker 1: were doing on TV. So I would practice all their moves. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I played basketball all the time, President Clinton. I mean,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a day that I didn't play basketball. I
Speaker 1: used to shovel the snow off the ground and I
Speaker 1: would play basketball. And my mom was like, she said,
Speaker 1: that boy just loved to play basketball. And it was.
Speaker 1: This funny thing was in the summertime. My father also
Speaker 1: had a trash hauling service. Because so many mouths of feed,
Speaker 1: he had to take on a second job. And so
Speaker 1: every day in the summertime, Monday through Saturday, I would
Speaker 1: work on the truck with my father, picking up people's trash.
Speaker 1: But I would say this, President Clinton, this is the
Speaker 1: greatest moment of my life. What happened to me, and
Speaker 1: this thing changed my life. So during the school year,
Speaker 1: I would get on my father's truck on Saturdays only.
Speaker 1: And so it was it must have been seven below zero,
Speaker 1: and my job was to get all the loose trash
Speaker 1: around the barrels and put it on the truck. It
Speaker 1: was so cold that morning that I got half to
Speaker 1: trash and I jumped into the cabin of the truck.
Speaker 1: And you appreciate this. By the time I closed the door,
Speaker 1: my father had opened the door and grabbed me and
Speaker 1: took me back to the ice wood where the trash
Speaker 1: was stuck in, and he said, Irvin, if you do
Speaker 1: this job halfway, you do everything in your life halfway.
Speaker 1: You're practice basketball halfway, you will study half the time.
Speaker 1: I want you to go get the shovel and break
Speaker 1: up the ice and get that trash out of there
Speaker 1: and put it on the truck. And at that moment
Speaker 1: in time, I became a perfectionist and everything I was
Speaker 1: doing in my life, I had to do it right
Speaker 1: because my father taught me that lesson early on. That's
Speaker 1: why I am the man that I am today. I
Speaker 1: have my mother smile and her personality and want to
Speaker 1: help everybody. And I'm just like my father. I'm a worker.
Speaker 1: I get a great joy out of out of working,
Speaker 1: and it's because of him. So that's my background really
Speaker 1: and growing up and landing. But the great thing President Clinton,
Speaker 1: I took every school I went to had never won
Speaker 1: a championship. So I started in elementary. I want everything
Speaker 1: go championship from the second grade all the way through
Speaker 1: the sixth grade, from the seventh grade middle school, I
Speaker 1: won every championship seven, eighth and ninth grade. Then when
Speaker 1: I got to high school, I got bussed across town.
Speaker 1: So what happened was I was supposed to go to
Speaker 1: an all black school in my neighborhood, and they were
Speaker 1: powerhouse in the state of Michigan, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a part of that tradition. Busing had just came
Speaker 1: into Michigan, and I'm only a ten minute walk from
Speaker 1: my high school. I thought I was going to Well,
Speaker 1: now I'm taking a twenty minute bus ride across town.
Speaker 1: I got there. The first week or two there was
Speaker 1: fighting every single day. So the third week, President Clinton,
Speaker 1: our principal principal troop, was waiting for the bus, and
Speaker 1: as the bus pulled up, he said, Irvan Johnson, come
Speaker 1: to my office. He says, um, there's been fighting intention
Speaker 1: in this high school for two weeks. I wanted to stop.
Speaker 1: So I assembled all the black students in the gym
Speaker 1: and Irvin, you're gonna talk to him. And he had
Speaker 1: a football player who was our best football player, who
Speaker 1: havn't be white, and he told him, you're gonna go
Speaker 1: talk to the white students. President Clinton, I said, I
Speaker 1: just got here. I'm only fifteen years old. This juniors
Speaker 1: or seniors, why don't you get one of them to
Speaker 1: talk to the student. He said, no, they won't listen
Speaker 1: to them, but they'll listen to you. So President Clinton,
Speaker 1: just at that moment, I didn't know. I I became
Speaker 1: a leader outside of basketball, right. I I've always led
Speaker 1: on the basketball court, but in school or my peers,
Speaker 1: I never led them. So here I am speaking to
Speaker 1: all the students ensure enough we stopped fighting. I told
Speaker 1: him we had to be here, so let's make the
Speaker 1: best of it. Let's get our education. And that was
Speaker 1: the best. Not only that moment was the best thing
Speaker 1: for me, but also the three years going to that
Speaker 1: high school because I learned to work with people who
Speaker 1: didn't look like me. I learned to get along with
Speaker 1: people who didn't look like me, because that was going
Speaker 1: to be my world, right And so I'm so happy
Speaker 1: that I got bussed across town and that I was
Speaker 1: able to work with people who didn't look like me
Speaker 1: and go to school with people who didn't look like
Speaker 1: with me who became my friends too. And then I
Speaker 1: led that school to his first state basketball championship at
Speaker 1: the same time, So everything that's came together for me.
Speaker 1: So those are that's how I grew up. Well, it's
Speaker 1: a good story. And I want people to listen to it,
Speaker 1: especially after we've just been through a few years when
Speaker 1: people act like our differences are all that matter, and
Speaker 1: the truth is that diverse groups make better decisions in
Speaker 1: every endeavor in life. Thank you for telling the story.
Speaker 1: I also want to thank you for explaining where you
Speaker 1: fell in love with basketball, watching those games with your
Speaker 1: dad and then going out and trying to emulate what
Speaker 1: you saw, because I followed your career from the time
Speaker 1: you were in college and I could never figure out
Speaker 1: why in the living daylights I was looking at a
Speaker 1: guard who could shoot a skyhook. Now, I know you
Speaker 1: watched Kareem do it, didn't we may have unearthed a
Speaker 1: very important part of basketball history. What we again. You know,
Speaker 1: he was the most dominant player at that time, so
Speaker 1: growing up, he was just a beautiful basketball player to watch.
Speaker 1: I mean, the sky hook, the footwork, the balance. Also too.
Speaker 1: People don't realize too, he's a smart man, too, super smart.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's so intelligent and so um. I put
Speaker 1: it in my game and sure enough, I shot that
Speaker 1: skyhood a number of times in the n s A
Speaker 1: Tournament and then thank God that the Lakers came calling,
Speaker 1: and uh, I idolized Kareem, so now I'm getting a
Speaker 1: chance to play with him. Oh, we'll be right back
Speaker 1: when you were on that Dream Team in ninety two. First,
Speaker 1: what was it like you were all those guys who
Speaker 1: were older than you were, and were you aware at
Speaker 1: the time the impact here we're all having across the
Speaker 1: world and making basketball maybe the world's favorite global sport.
Speaker 1: It's only sport. Really, Basketball is the only thing to
Speaker 1: seriously challenge soccer is the world sport for women and
Speaker 1: men too. First of all, just felt honored to represent
Speaker 1: my country, to be selected to the Dream Team, the
Speaker 1: first time pro basketball players were allowed to play in
Speaker 1: the Olympics. UM. And then it was on my bucket
Speaker 1: list to always play with Michael Jordan's and Larry Bird
Speaker 1: and we had fought hard against each other for so
Speaker 1: many years, but now finally we're gonna get a chance
Speaker 1: to play with each other. And so President Clinton, I'm
Speaker 1: used to coming down the middle for the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 1: and I got James Worthy on my right, I got
Speaker 1: Byron Scott on my left, k rambas Is trailing, and
Speaker 1: then Kareem f Jule Jabbar will come down later on
Speaker 1: if we don't get a layup, a dunk or a
Speaker 1: jump shot. Here, come down and shoot the Scott hook.
Speaker 1: But now I have Michael Jordan's on my right. Oh man,
Speaker 1: Larry Bird is on my left. Charles Barkley is trailing
Speaker 1: Scottie Pippen is trailing Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullen, Man, David Robinson,
Speaker 1: Patrick Ewen. I mean you're sitting there, John Stockton. One
Speaker 1: a team. It was so amazing. We committed to each
Speaker 1: other and this is what changed everything. First day of practice,
Speaker 1: Chuck Daly said, President Clinton, Michael Jordan, You're going to
Speaker 1: be the captain of the Dream Team. And Michael Jordan said, no,
Speaker 1: I don't deserve to be the captain of the Dream team.
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird should be the captain of
Speaker 1: the Dream Team. So at that moment in time, that
Speaker 1: meant everybody had to leave their ego at the door,
Speaker 1: because Michael Jordan just said, hey, I'm good just being
Speaker 1: on this team, so everybody else gotta be good too.
Speaker 1: So it made our job, Larry and our job easier
Speaker 1: to lead the team because Michael Jordan's just said, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm just here, I'm gonna do my job, and everybody
Speaker 1: else should do their job so we can win the
Speaker 1: gold medal. Well, we blew everybody out by over forty
Speaker 1: two points a game. It's the best basketball was ever
Speaker 1: involved in it in my life. And then last but
Speaker 1: not least, it was a scrimmage. It was a game
Speaker 1: that nobody saw. That was the greatest basketball that we
Speaker 1: all ever played in our entire lives. Chuck Daly said, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what we're gonna do. I'm a divide the
Speaker 1: team East versus the West. So Michael Jordan's and Scottie
Speaker 1: Pippen with the Bulls. Charles Barkley played for Philadelphia, he's
Speaker 1: over there. Larry Bird of course with the Celtics. Patrick
Speaker 1: Ewing was at starting center because he played for the Knicks.
Speaker 1: On our team, of course, we had all the West guys,
Speaker 1: so that man, David Robinson, Carl Malone, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler,
Speaker 1: and John stocktor So he said, all right, you guys
Speaker 1: gonna go head to head, and I want to see
Speaker 1: who's the best. President Clinton. Oh my goodness, I had
Speaker 1: never seen a group of men come together on both
Speaker 1: sides and play this game the way we played it.
Speaker 1: It was just unbelievable. You got everything that you would
Speaker 1: love in the game of basketball. If you wanted great passes,
Speaker 1: you got great passes. You wanted to see jump shots,
Speaker 1: you got that. You want to see defense. Patrick Ewing
Speaker 1: and David Robinson was blocking shots left and right. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just unbelievable basketball, and everybody took it to
Speaker 1: the next level. I've seen everybody play. All these men
Speaker 1: played before, but they didn't play like that. They played
Speaker 1: to another level. If you can imagine Michael Jordan and
Speaker 1: Larry Bird going to another level. It was just unbelievable
Speaker 1: to witness and to be a part of. These are
Speaker 1: the two plays that really stood out to me. Patrick
Speaker 1: Uning had a breakaway down the middle. He came down
Speaker 1: and he thought he was gonna dunk it. David Robinson
Speaker 1: jumped straight up with two hands and blocked it, and
Speaker 1: we all went crazy because how could he just block
Speaker 1: this shot that this man was gonna tear the rim down? Right?
Speaker 1: And I came down and I threw a no look
Speaker 1: pass to Karl Malone and he went down and almost
Speaker 1: tore the basket down. So it was a time out
Speaker 1: and I had to I like to mess with Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan's So I said, m j if you don't turn
Speaker 1: into air Jordan, we're gonna blow you guys out. President Clinton,
Speaker 1: what did I do that for? This guy came out
Speaker 1: the next five possession and he hit five straight three
Speaker 1: pointers and then he did one of the greatest moves
Speaker 1: I've ever seen in my life. Now, he came down
Speaker 1: the right side and David Robinson jumped and he thought
Speaker 1: he had to block. Well, Michael Jordan just held the
Speaker 1: ball and waited till he went all the way down
Speaker 1: to the floor and looked at him as he was
Speaker 1: still in the air, and he turned and did a
Speaker 1: three sixty and dunked it. And it was like, that's
Speaker 1: the greatest shot I've ever seen in my life. Who
Speaker 1: hangs in the air that long? And that's what you
Speaker 1: got out of this game. Just unbelievable, play after play
Speaker 1: after play. And finally Chuck Daily that when the clock
Speaker 1: ran out the score was tied, and Chuck Daty said, well,
Speaker 1: do you want to go into overtime? And we said yeah,
Speaker 1: But everybody felt we were playing so hard against each
Speaker 1: other somebody may get hurt, right, And so that ended
Speaker 1: in a tie. But let me tell you that was
Speaker 1: the greatest basketball I've ever seen and been a part of.
Speaker 1: And those memories last forever. And look at how many
Speaker 1: players from overseas we have planning in the NBA today
Speaker 1: because of the Dream Team. What a what great story.
Speaker 1: So there you are, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's over. When you gave up something you love so
Speaker 1: much and did so well, did you just instantaneously remake
Speaker 1: yourself or had you been preparing for this emotionally and
Speaker 1: psychologically a long time. Did you have a good plan.
Speaker 1: I was prepared for life after basketball because I had
Speaker 1: two dreams in my life. I've always wanted to play
Speaker 1: in the NBA and I also wanted to become a businessman.
Speaker 1: I met two African American businessmen in Lansing, Michigan. I
Speaker 1: didn't know that African Americans could own businesses. But Joe
Speaker 1: Ferguson and Greg Eaton, two gentlemen who also supported you,
Speaker 1: a very good friend of mine, and they showed me
Speaker 1: that we could own businesses. And I asked them one
Speaker 1: day to become my mentors, asked them for a job.
Speaker 1: They gave me my first real job, and they're still
Speaker 1: great mentors and friends. Of mine even today. So I
Speaker 1: was preparing for life after basketball during the time I
Speaker 1: was playing in the NBA. Dr Jerry Buster, owner of
Speaker 1: the Lakers, became my first mentor, and uh then I
Speaker 1: had guys Michael Ovis, Peter Gruber, all these guys became
Speaker 1: my mentors while I was still playing m and then
Speaker 1: when in when we made the announcement that I had
Speaker 1: HIV um, it devastated me. And I want to say
Speaker 1: to everybody out there, it took me a year to
Speaker 1: really to get over the fact that I wasn't playing
Speaker 1: the game that I loved, the game that brought so
Speaker 1: much joy and happiness to my life. The first year,
Speaker 1: it took me time to understand what I had to
Speaker 1: deal with living first with HIV. When I got the diagnosis,
Speaker 1: I remember that HIV and as at that time, was
Speaker 1: a death sentence. I said, how can I be here
Speaker 1: a long time? The doctor told me three things. He
Speaker 1: said urban Number one, you gotta take your med's. Second,
Speaker 1: he said, you gotta be okay with your new status
Speaker 1: because it's all about an attitude in a mindset. Now,
Speaker 1: he said, Third, you gotta work out. I said, now,
Speaker 1: are those are three things I have to do to
Speaker 1: be here a long time. He said, those are the
Speaker 1: three things I think you have to do. And so
Speaker 1: I tell you what really happened to me, President Clinton.
Speaker 1: I'm laying on a couch feeling sorry for myself. This
Speaker 1: is about eight nine months in now. I'm I'm angry,
Speaker 1: I'm upset. I'm not playing basketball. So I came into
Speaker 1: the house after working out and my wife said get out.
Speaker 1: And what she said, no, get out? So Cookie is
Speaker 1: telling me to get out the house. I said, get out?
Speaker 1: What are you talking about? She said, when you come back,
Speaker 1: I want you to be the man that I married.
Speaker 1: You've never been a guy who felt sorry for himself.
Speaker 1: You always looked at life said hey, you've dealt with
Speaker 1: things that came your way, and you moved on. You know,
Speaker 1: you moved done with life. You you had dreams of
Speaker 1: becoming a businessman. Now it's time to go after those dreams.
Speaker 1: But you're sitting on this couch feeling sorry for yourself.
Speaker 1: And that's not you. And that's what changed my life.
Speaker 1: So I got up and started working towards becoming a businessman.
Speaker 1: I stopped thinking about trying to come back to the NBA.
Speaker 1: And why I'm not playing and so on. I The
Speaker 1: first thing I did was President Bush at that time,
Speaker 1: asked me to join his Age Commission. I went to
Speaker 1: Boston one day. This was really hurt me. They had
Speaker 1: a brand new hospice, thirty beds. They only had one
Speaker 1: person in that hospice. And I said, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: you got twenty nine beds open and we don't have
Speaker 1: people in there. They said, the certificate process is so
Speaker 1: outrageous that people can and get in. And that that
Speaker 1: President Clinton, I cried. I was so upset that we
Speaker 1: had this facility to take care of people who are
Speaker 1: living with HIV and a's and and and people who
Speaker 1: need it beds, who needed rooms and they're on the street,
Speaker 1: and and so that just hurt me. And I was
Speaker 1: so happy when you became the president, and the funds
Speaker 1: that you committed also to you speaking up, and look
Speaker 1: at what happened. The results got better, the meds got better,
Speaker 1: we had more medicine. We had now people could get jobs,
Speaker 1: and some of the discrimination stopped against people who were
Speaker 1: living with hibn A. So a lot of things change
Speaker 1: with your leadership. And so I want to say thank you.
Speaker 1: But my wife helped me to then jump start my
Speaker 1: business career, and then things just opened up for me
Speaker 1: and I did all the businesses and all the things
Speaker 1: I always wanted to do. I started the Magic Johnson Foundation.
Speaker 1: We raised millions and millions of dollars for people were
Speaker 1: living with HIV and AIDS. Also those who couldn't pay
Speaker 1: for their medicine. We were able to help them pay
Speaker 1: for their medicine. On and on and on, so especially
Speaker 1: in the black community, because it was running rapid through
Speaker 1: the black and brown community. So I had to educate
Speaker 1: my people about this disease and what it was doing
Speaker 1: to our community. So again it was just uh that
Speaker 1: time I got into business, but also was committed. And
Speaker 1: then last but not least, I got to say something
Speaker 1: about Elizabeth Glazier who was dying of AIDS at that time,
Speaker 1: and you remember she allowed cookie and I had to
Speaker 1: go visit her, and she said, I want you to
Speaker 1: become the face of this disease because we need a face.
Speaker 1: We don't have a face. And I committed to her
Speaker 1: when she was dying that I would do that. And
Speaker 1: sure enough, it'll be thirty years this November that I'm
Speaker 1: living with HIV. And so she changed my life. She
Speaker 1: changed my wife life. I'm so happy to steal be
Speaker 1: in a fight, and I'm so happy about the magic
Speaker 1: Johnson found Nation and also the Clinton Foundation and all
Speaker 1: the things you're doing. And people don't know all the
Speaker 1: things you're doing now, not just here in America but
Speaker 1: around the world. President Clinton, your foundation has touched so
Speaker 1: many people. So thank you for what you've been doing.
Speaker 1: Um so, because that's important. Stay tuned for more of
Speaker 1: the conversation after this short break. Let's talk to us
Speaker 1: a little bit before we run out of time here.
Speaker 1: What's the first successful busin as you know, what was
Speaker 1: your first success? The first success, I would say it
Speaker 1: was a radio station. That was my first thing. Um
Speaker 1: minorities were allowed at that time to buy TV stations,
Speaker 1: radio stations, uh at a cheaper price, and uh so
Speaker 1: I bought radio stations and then resold them. I changing
Speaker 1: from my AM to a FM, which the FM more expensive.
Speaker 1: So it worked out great for me, and I brought
Speaker 1: a bunch of basketball players in with me and they
Speaker 1: all made money. They thought I was a here their
Speaker 1: hero then, right so, But I would say the biggest
Speaker 1: thing I ever done in the beginning though, to prove
Speaker 1: myself to have a track record of success. Was Starbucks
Speaker 1: taking Starbucks and you and I. People don't people don't
Speaker 1: realize how align you and I are and how friends were.
Speaker 1: This is really incredible. It's two people on this earth
Speaker 1: who changed Harlem, and we're both on this zoom call today. First,
Speaker 1: when I put the Magic Johnson Theater and I in
Speaker 1: Harlem and I brought Starbucks to Harlem, that changed Harlem.
Speaker 1: Then this this president what's his name? President Clinton put
Speaker 1: his office right by my Starbucks. That changed Harlem. So
Speaker 1: both of us are responsible for what's going on today. Now.
Speaker 1: They have so many new restaurants. You see people eating
Speaker 1: outside in Harlem that never happened before. New development is
Speaker 1: going up in Harlem, hotels, things of that nature. So
Speaker 1: we created a lot of job opportunities in Harlem, but
Speaker 1: all so places for people to go. That was my
Speaker 1: first big deal was building a hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: Starbucks in forty different cities across the country. And Howard
Speaker 1: shows I owe him a lot because we came together
Speaker 1: and did some powerful and great things in the inner
Speaker 1: cities of America by bringing Starbucks to the urban communities.
Speaker 1: Why did you buy w NBA team. I love women's
Speaker 1: basketball and even today, I watched college women's games all
Speaker 1: the time. And then when you think about uh, the
Speaker 1: w n b A and owning the l A Sparks, Um,
Speaker 1: I was going to the games already. And so when
Speaker 1: the team came up for sale, my partners and I
Speaker 1: who owned the Dodgers, together, we just said, hey, why
Speaker 1: don't we just buy the team because we all love
Speaker 1: uh the w n b A, we love uh women's sports.
Speaker 1: So so we decided to buy the team, and it
Speaker 1: was it's been great owning the team. Candice Parker, who
Speaker 1: is one of the greatest players of all time to
Speaker 1: play in and college basketball and the w n b A.
Speaker 1: You know, we're led by her, and so President Clint
Speaker 1: I had. I've had some year when I think about
Speaker 1: the Lakers winning the championship and they dedicated the year
Speaker 1: to Kobe Bryant of course with him passing away, and
Speaker 1: they end up winning the championship, and then my Dodgers
Speaker 1: end up winning the World Series. So it's been some
Speaker 1: year for me in terms of sports. And uh uh
Speaker 1: that's why I bought them, because I just wanted to
Speaker 1: keep the l A Sparks in Los Angeles and my
Speaker 1: wife and I enjoy and then one day we can
Speaker 1: pass on to our daughter, who also played high school
Speaker 1: basketball herself. Well, the one thing I want to do.
Speaker 1: I know we gotta wrap this up and you've got
Speaker 1: something else to do. But I don't think most people
Speaker 1: know just how much you have done since the COVID problem,
Speaker 1: you know, WACICS to save minority and women owned businesses.
Speaker 1: I think the you know it turned out to be
Speaker 1: your opportunity because you saw it as an opportunity and
Speaker 1: an obligation to do something to advance racial justice and
Speaker 1: economic justice, as well as to lend a helping hand
Speaker 1: to small businesses who don't have the access to capital
Speaker 1: that you do. So just talk about what you did
Speaker 1: through your insurance company and to help businesses minority and
Speaker 1: women owned businesses after COVID, because uh, it's been a
Speaker 1: big problem all across the country. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: bigger businesses did find and could access this government program,
Speaker 1: and sometime the people that needed to the most couldn't
Speaker 1: get it, and you stepped in into the breach. And
Speaker 1: I think it may be twenty years from now one
Speaker 1: of the most significant things you ever done in your life,
Speaker 1: and I want a record of it. So the first
Speaker 1: thing we were able to do was commit a couple
Speaker 1: hundred million. The money went so fast because so many
Speaker 1: businesses needed help that then we put up another hundred million,
Speaker 1: brought the total to three million dollars, and we were
Speaker 1: able to save tens of thousands of businesses and also
Speaker 1: UH saved them from also firing or letting go of
Speaker 1: their employees as well. I'm so happy that I was
Speaker 1: in a position God blessed me to be in this
Speaker 1: position to help. I've always been about trying to uplift
Speaker 1: the Black community and the Latino community anyway I can,
Speaker 1: and so UM, I just felt at that time it
Speaker 1: was a need and I could be a solution to
Speaker 1: those small black business owners and Latino business owners and
Speaker 1: women own businesses as well. So UH it's been a
Speaker 1: blessing for them and a blessing for me too. At
Speaker 1: the same time, as we close, I want to say
Speaker 1: again how much you have meant to all three of
Speaker 1: us and our small family, a shining light and a
Speaker 1: constant reminder to never give up, keep your chin up,
Speaker 1: and keep going. But now all over America people are
Speaker 1: beginning to wonder where when is this ever gonna be over?
Speaker 1: And when it's over, will whatever be like it was?
Speaker 1: And if it's not gonna be like it was, is
Speaker 1: it gonna be good? How do you think about that? What?
Speaker 1: What would you say to people about how to stay
Speaker 1: with the program right now so we don't have a
Speaker 1: lot more people die? And then how do you think
Speaker 1: about the future. I'm a positive guy. I've always been that,
Speaker 1: and I think that, uh, we'll be heading in the
Speaker 1: right direction as a country, and I think people need
Speaker 1: to just hold on. Help is on the way. When
Speaker 1: you think about this pandemic and what's going on there,
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, we get our shots and
Speaker 1: do what we're supposed to do and wear our mask
Speaker 1: and stay safe and healthy, I think, and protect not
Speaker 1: only yourself but other people will be fine there. But
Speaker 1: I think the economy will turn around, and I think
Speaker 1: that uh, hopefully uh, in the next whether it's this
Speaker 1: year or in we'll be back to heading in the
Speaker 1: right direction and back strong again as a nation, and
Speaker 1: I think the economy will be strong as well. So
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that and I hope to be
Speaker 1: a part of that solution as well, just like I
Speaker 1: work with you. Just like I work with President Obama,
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I work with President Biden
Speaker 1: as well and just make things better for our treet
Speaker 1: but also those who live in urban America. That's always
Speaker 1: been my focus and it will always be my focus. Well,
Speaker 1: we just heard a remarkable person. My life has been
Speaker 1: breathed by his friendship and by the example. He said.
Speaker 1: We love you man, Thank you so much. I love you,
Speaker 1: and thank you for happening. Mission. I'll see you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Why am I telling you? This is a production of
Speaker 1: our Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and at Will Media.
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Craig Manascion and Will Malnady. Our
Speaker 1: production team includes Mitch Bluestein, Jamison cat Sufis, Tom Galton,
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Speaker 1: I'm Chris Thrasher, and I serve as the Senior Director
Speaker 1: of Substance you, Disorders and Recovery with the Opiod Response
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Speaker 1: Disease Control and Prevention, each year we lose tens of
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